I'm in the middle of Houston right now, taking 60 mph winds and I still have power !

I know the Robonauts are the closest to the eye landfall of the storm. Hopefully everyone is doing well ! Please post your hurricane story or whatever interesting news you have.

Pat Arnold

09-13-2008, 06:16 AM

My prayers are with everyone who is experiencing Hurricane Ike. From what is being televised, the flooding & power outages appear widespread in coastal TX & LA. Stay safe & let the FIRST community know of any way we can be of support.

GaryVoshol

09-13-2008, 06:26 AM

I'm in the middle of Houston right now, taking 60 mph winds and I still have power ! I think we've just found the winner of the "You know you've overdosed when ... " thread. ;)

Teams in SE Texas, our thoughts are with you. Let us know how you fared when things clear up and you get back home.

And teams in the rest of TX, if you have any inspirational stories about helping out, tell us.

ATannahill

09-13-2008, 02:11 PM

i am on the west coast of florida and we occasional get some heavy rain, i know a stop light was broken but i dont think it was because of Ike

Andrew Schreiber

09-13-2008, 04:46 PM

People say I'm obsessed, but you are sitting in a hurricane and posting on CD.

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23Ike Theres an interesting way of following people's thoughts. My thoughts go out to you guys in the path of Ike.

Stay safe.

JaneYoung

09-14-2008, 06:38 PM

As many of us know, IKE has been a force to reckon with and continues to cause problems for states beyond the coastal ones that have been impacted.

Here in Austin, the news stations have begun putting information out for how we can help and what we can do. Having worked with teams and schools that coordinated relief efforts for those impacted by Katrina, I've learned that money donated to the Red Cross is one of the best ways to contribute. If you check out the Red Cross information, you can specify the area you want the donation to help in. The Red Cross has been taking a wallop, itself, with all the needs pouring in this summer and now into fall - they would probably appreciate any monetary donations offered.

It is hard to watch the devastation and not want to jump in the car and head to Galveston or Surfside. My husband and I have many years of family history and memories of celebrations in both places. At the moment though, I would just be in the way.

Schnabel

09-14-2008, 07:16 PM

On a lighter note, Ike came through my area today. I took my kite out to the local park and got some flying in. The only problem was that the mist coming down finally weighted it down to the point that it couldn't fly any longer. Ike's winds were nowhere near strong here, but just right.

synth3tk

09-14-2008, 10:08 PM

Northern Ohio got hit with a nasty wind storm today. You could've sworn we had a fleet of tornados coming through. Up to 60 mph winds, downed power lines all over the area, trees uprooted, accidents here-and-there. One of the lines was under a downed tree and was sparking, but the fire department was already there.

Should be getting the rain sometime in the next 6 hours...

bigbeezy

09-14-2008, 10:47 PM

i dont know about other parts of the country, but Ike has caused gas to be a nightmare. with the refineries being closed for so long, many gas stations are running out of gas. I talked to my mom the other day and she said in Orlando as well as many stations in Brevard County they have been rationing gas to 10 gal/visit. my roommate's friend said that in parts of GA its like $10/visit. I havent seen any rationing signs here in Tallahassee, but many stations are out of gas and today there was a 20+ car line at this one that some how still had gas. I believe Tally is almost dry as far as gas right now. Gas prices were getting rather nice at 3.65 here, haha ya 3.65 nice...but better, and now its gone up to 3.85 over night.

Makes you wonder what the country would do if there was a major problem and there was no gas...

Elgin Clock

09-15-2008, 12:23 AM

Makes you wonder what the country would do if there was a major problem and there was no gas...

Adapt.

Cory

09-15-2008, 01:18 AM

Adapt.Which would take months, if not longer, through which we would suffer at a standstill.

waialua359

09-15-2008, 01:25 AM

i dont know about other parts of the country, but Ike has caused gas to be a nightmare. with the refineries being closed for so long, many gas stations are running out of gas. I talked to my mom the other day and she said in Orlando as well as many stations in Brevard County they have been rationing gas to 10 gal/visit. my roommate's friend said that in parts of GA its like $10/visit. I havent seen any rationing signs here in Tallahassee, but many stations are out of gas and today there was a 20+ car line at this one that some how still had gas. I believe Tally is almost dry as far as gas right now. Gas prices were getting rather nice at 3.65 here, haha ya 3.65 nice...but better, and now its gone up to 3.85 over night.

Makes you wonder what the country would do if there was a major problem and there was no gas...

i guess everything is relative.
try paying 4.60/gallon for gas for super. I guess the good news is they are saying on the local news that it will drop 3 cents this week. :D

ComradeNikolai

09-15-2008, 03:19 AM

Northern Ohio got hit with a nasty wind storm today. You could've sworn we had a fleet of tornados coming through. Up to 60 mph winds, downed power lines all over the area, trees uprooted, accidents here-and-there. One of the lines was under a downed tree and was sparking, but the fire department was already there.

Should be getting the rain sometime in the next 6 hours...

I'm in northern Ohio as well... and I just got my power back on about 10 minutes ago thanks to the storm; about 10 hours without power, and it wasn't fun. I was sitting outside on my covered deck for the first two, though, so that was fun; it's sheltered on two sides, so there was no wind affecting me there, and I got to watch the forest behind my house get a serious beating.

The roads around me got some serious trees down, and one major road (4 lanes) was barricaded in a few places for trees. It seems major to me, since I've never seen such winds before, and it makes me realize that I don't know how bad a hurricane must be.

Elgin Clock

09-15-2008, 09:23 AM

Which would take months, if not longer, through which we would suffer at a standstill.

Sounds like fun! /sarcasm

Looks like alternative power (for transportation & every other area) should be a top priority of the next administration that takes over the White House, whoever & whatever party that may be.

Sometimes it takes a disaster to cut through beuracratic red tape a little quicker and get things done, but then again sometimes disasters make the red tape even more prevalent.

Whatever the case, let's hope it's a seamless transition over an extended period of time so we don't have the standstill you speak of.

i guess everything is relative.
try paying 4.60/gallon for gas for super. I guess the good news is they are saying on the local news that it will drop 3 cents this week. :D

Why on earth would you buy super?
Please tell me your vehicle that uses or needs that is not your "daily driver".

Andrew Schreiber

09-15-2008, 09:32 AM

Here in Flint we had a ton of rain. And a ton of price gouging, prices for regular jumped ~40 cents in 12 hrs. Also, some of our roods our flooded, nothing around KU though, being on the Flint River has its perks I suppose.

Best wishes to all those teams NOT reading this due to power outages.

Racer26

09-15-2008, 11:57 AM

i dont know about other parts of the country, but Ike has caused gas to be a nightmare. with the refineries being closed for so long, many gas stations are running out of gas. I talked to my mom the other day and she said in Orlando as well as many stations in Brevard County they have been rationing gas to 10 gal/visit. my roommate's friend said that in parts of GA its like $10/visit. I havent seen any rationing signs here in Tallahassee, but many stations are out of gas and today there was a 20+ car line at this one that some how still had gas. I believe Tally is almost dry as far as gas right now. Gas prices were getting rather nice at 3.65 here, haha ya 3.65 nice...but better, and now its gone up to 3.85 over night.

Makes you wonder what the country would do if there was a major problem and there was no gas...

Oh please, all you folks in the States can complain all you like about gas and most of us Canadians will have little sympathy. Here in Toronto area we've been paying ~$1.25/L for months. News of Ike hitting Texas happened, and before Ike even made landfall, the price of gas here was up to $1.38/L

Our dollars are nearly at par, and 1 US Gal = 3.78L, so we're paying like $4.72/gal pre-Ike and $5.21/gal after. $3.85/gal would be about $1.01/L here, which we haven't seen for 6 months at least.

waialua359

09-15-2008, 02:25 PM

Why on earth would you buy super?
Please tell me your vehicle that uses or needs that is not your "daily driver".

It actually is my daily driver.:ahh:
When I put regular unleaded, it triggers my check engine light as the catalytic converter sensor goes beyond its threshold for completely burning the bad gases.
Its just a toyota s-runner, but yeah, its what the toyota techs told me when doing the diagnostics on it.
As for my other cars, they are fairly new and I wouldn't trust anything but super.:D

waialua359

09-15-2008, 02:27 PM

Oh please, all you folks in the States can complain all you like about gas and most of us Canadians will have little sympathy. Here in Toronto area we've been paying ~$1.25/L for months. News of Ike hitting Texas happened, and before Ike even made landfall, the price of gas here was up to $1.38/L

Our dollars are nearly at par, and 1 US Gal = 3.78L, so we're paying like $4.72/gal pre-Ike and $5.21/gal after. $3.85/gal would be about $1.01/L here, which we haven't seen for 6 months at least.

Yup,
everything is relative.
I still remember championships in april when we saw our team #, 359, at all of the gas stations. What a hike its been afterwards.:mad:

bigbeezy

09-15-2008, 05:16 PM

ya it is all relative. I was in London like 5 years ago, and we figured out that (at the price of the dollar at the time) it was about $7/gal there. i dont even what to know what its like now.

JaneYoung

09-15-2008, 05:45 PM

There are other groups that are helping/preparing to help those who have been impacted by Ike and who continue to be.

The Salvation Army is one.
Also, a thought - if you are interested in volunteering as a team or individual, contact your local Red Cross or Salvation Army and ask them how you can help. A blanket drive might be helpful in one locale but not needed in another.

Also, please remember the animal shelters that are going to be overwhelmed and may be already. Check their helplines and see what their needs are. They, too, can always use monetary donations.

Ike has impacted so many states and areas. (And that's just the latest one in a series.)

Sorry to take everyone off the discussion of gasoline -

Jane

Alivia

09-15-2008, 06:52 PM

This is a picture my mom sent me from back home. (Hammond, IN)
The picture was taken on the dividing line of Munster and Hammond (pointing towards Munster)
A substantial rainfall caused by Ike caused the local Little Calumet River to overflow.
I hope everyone's okay back home!!

And my thoughts and wishes go out to all others affected by Ike.

waialua359

09-15-2008, 08:33 PM

that's terrible! Sorry to hear that your family has to deal with severe weather issues.
Hawaii's economy would be in shambles if that ever happened here to the point where I think we would never recover.
We had two major hurricanes the last two decades, but nothing severe on the main island of Oahu.

Protronie

09-15-2008, 11:42 PM

My thoughts and prayers are with all of yous that were in Ike's path.
We even felt him here in Carolina. Personally I've had no damage from the rains Ike sent here but my job.... all paving and road work has been suspended for at least a week. Everything is just too wet from all the rain Hana & Ike dumped on us. As I look out my window I see its still sprinkling, forecast looks like more rain for the next 24 to 36 hrs. After the drought we've had I really can't complain about some rain. Thankfully I've a few hundred hours of comp-time I can use.
And I just bought some VEX robot kits for the local Boys/Girls club... guess I'll help them figure them out. Once I figure them out... thats why I bought one for myself . ;)

I wish all those affected by Ike well... my prayers will continue to be with us.

-p :cool:

Kevin Sevcik

09-16-2008, 11:11 AM

Guess I'm the first texan hit by Ike to actually be able to post. Centerpoint estimates 95% of customers lost power, so I assume Andrew's power didn't survive the eye blowing through around 4-5am. To my chagrin, I lost power for all of 2 hours, and my shiny new generator is now powering my neighbor's fridge and freezer across the street. Still lacking cable and internets, so I'm currently posting from work, which fared slightly worse due to a poor roof and Sunday's torrential downpours. If anyone in FIRST corporate is curious about the sudden decrease in volume, the Lone Star RD is without both power and internets. I can assure them she'll be up and pestering them at full speed as soon as service is restored, however.

The city overall seems to be dealing with the disaster well. There's much pulling together and neighbors helping neighbors and surprisingly little unproductive behavior. The police chief notes that arrests and such are actually lower than usual. The only real pointless activities I've noted are reporters badgering the poor Centerpoint rep with pointless repetitive questions and their ridiculous "theories" as to how Centerpoint is working the problem.

In FRC related news, Clear Creek, Pasadena and Goose Creek ISDs are closed until further notice and teams associated with them are likely to be hardest hit. All the teams in the Greater Houston Area will obviously be affected to some extent, but in my judgment, the hardest hit teams will be 118, 231, 1255, 2597, and 2664. Despite concerns voiced here, I'm confident 118 will bounce back strong. They are a strong team will great sponsor support. I think the team that needs the most support from the FRC community is going to be Blarglefish 1255. They're based out of Baytown, which was very much on the dirty side of the storm. In particular, one of their two high schools is on Goose Lake. I haven't been able to confirm, but I imagine it was heavily flooded from the storm surge pushed into Galveston Bay and the Ship Channel. So if anyone needs help and support right now, it's likely to be them.

JaneYoung

09-16-2008, 11:39 AM

Thank you for the news, Kevin. It has been hard not knowing or hearing anything. I've gotten some news here and there regarding Clear Lake but not enough to know anything.

It's also good to hear that folks are helping each other out.

Richard Wallace

09-16-2008, 01:55 PM

What was left of Ike came to visit my part of St. Louis county, and deposited about half a foot of rain in some spots (http://northcountyjournal.stltoday.com/articles/2008/09/16/news/sj2tn20080916-0917flo-flood0.ii1.txt). My yard only got about four inches, but it all fell between 5:30 and 9:30 am Sunday morning.

Later that day, the remains of Ike arrived in Chicago -- after they'd already had about 20 hours of continuous rain from a stalled front. My brother who lives in the north loop told me their 36 hour rainfall total was over a foot in some places.

Al Skierkiewicz and I exchanged a few messages that day, while each of us was vacuuming seepage from his respective basement. I think Al stayed at that task for most of a day, while I got off easier with only about four hours of shop-vac duty.

The good news: my area had relatively minor wind damage and no loss of electric power. Even though we got very wet, our Ike troubles were negligible when compared with those in Texas.

JaneYoung

09-16-2008, 02:35 PM

Even though we got very wet, our Ike troubles were negligible when compared with those in Texas.

Louisiana, too. I did a search to try to find the path of damage/impact. I looked in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ike) to see what was there. Check out some of the inland areas that are mentioned.

The "Ike Spike" is also mentioned concerning the severity of the price increase of gasoline in Canada.

Al Skierkiewicz

09-17-2008, 07:06 AM

Northern Illinois and northwest Indiana are still waiting for the water to go down. Traffic reports on the way in have I 65 north closed for 70 miles, and the main east west road I80/94 is still closed between Illinois and Indiana. The Indiana tollway is free so that traffic can get by the flooding. Munster is pretty much closed although there are some areas that are dry. The levees on the Little Calumet didn't fail, the water just is so high it went right over. The north branch of the Chicago River is still very high and the neighborhood near where I work is still under water. My main road to the station finally opened this morning but the water is just a few inches from the street.

lynca

09-17-2008, 09:24 AM

I think the team that needs the most support from the FRC community is going to be Blarglefish 1255. They're based out of Baytown, which was very much on the dirty side of the storm. In particular, one of their two high schools is on Goose Lake. I haven't been able to confirm, but I imagine it was heavily flooded from the storm surge pushed into Galveston Bay and the Ship Channel. So if anyone needs help and support right now, it's likely to be them.

Thanks for the update, I don't know 1255 very well but hopefully someone checks on them. I would be happy to contact them to see if they need help.

My power and water has been restored, it was out for about 3 days. Even on Wednesday, over 60% of Houston is still without power. The gas station lines are long and many of the street lights and intersections are without power.

I had no idea Ike would impact so many people !

JaneYoung

09-17-2008, 10:22 AM

Welcome back, Andrew.

Kymber

09-17-2008, 11:37 PM

Looks like Lone Star planning is going to take a couple weeks off, I think this is about the only way we can get Lucia to take time off lol. The assistant RD is down as well, I barely have cell service right now thankfully hubby brought home an air card so I got to come check on everyone. We will be down at least another week, more than likely 2 according to the tree trimmers that came to clear the trees off the lines. We have several poles down as well as lines so they will be working very hard to get us back up.
We have really seen the best in people though as Kevin said neighbors are pulling together to make sure everyone is doing ok. The morning after the storm I walked my neighborhood with tears in my eyes as I watched neighbors pulling trees off each others houses and tarping windows and roofs. Today the tree trimming trucks came in and I swear everyone in the neighborhood ran out to thank them and offer them water. Our tree trimmers are from GA, KY, and KS and I can honestly say we have never been so happy to see anyone in all our lives.
If people want to help, the mayor has said if anyone knows anybody with an ice company or that has access to large quantities of ice they can get to this area that is really what we need. Hubby went to the grocery store today and they are still running on generators so the shelves are pretty empty but people still need ice. Also the medical center has said that blood is really in short supply so if you are a regular donor Please, Please, Please give now. Jane has mentioned several great ways to help the community but we all know I focus on robots and teams so I'm going to suggest if you have extra tools, or spare parts that you aren't using you might box them up for the teams that took such big hits. We don't know who is going to need help or how much help they are going to need just yet, but we know tools and parts always seem to be what is needed most besides funds of course.
Kevin please let Lucia know that we are ok, no damage to the house our trees cooperated and blew out onto the street :) As soon as they restore cell service or power I will let her know and check on her. Everyone please keep all our teams in your prayers, the coast took the biggest hit but this has impacted all of Texas. Please be patient with us, we will be back up and running in no time and I'm sure Lucia will make up for lost time as soon as her feet hit the ground again. I'm so sure of it I'm making sure to catch up on my sleep now lol.

RossK

09-19-2008, 09:01 PM

Here in Chicago , tons of places are underwater.

I live near a river (the Fox , in Batavia) and the river has just flooded so much. its a mess.

My thoughts go out to those affected by Ike.

mathking

09-20-2008, 08:44 AM

Here in Central Ohio we got almost no rain from the remnants of Ike, but we got 75+ mph winds on Sunday evening. Trees started falling left and right. And suddenly an estimated 2 million people were without power. We are down to about 72,000 homes without power as of 9:00 pm Friday. AEP says it will probably be the start of next week before everyone gets power back. Almost all of the schools in Central Ohio were out at least Monday and Tuesday, and it wasn't until Friday that Columbus Public Schools went back (except for 11 schools still without power). It was a very hospitable blackout period, since the temperatures were mild and there was little rain, so we really can't complain after seeing the destruction in Texas.

LSevcik

09-20-2008, 09:43 AM

Hi All,

Just wanted to check in. I won't have power until the end of next week and of course it will be a few days for internet after that. I fared the storm pretty good just limbs and a mess in the yard Since I don't have internet etc. I am still keeping busy by helping people clean their yards, remove trees etc I can even add storm drainage duty to my resume.

I have been in contact with FIRST corporate and am coming up with a plan on how to help teams. I will find what teams needs are and let you know.

Take care. Lucia

Anna B.

09-20-2008, 10:31 AM

Odd connection- My physical therapist's husband works for an electrical company and is actually down in Texas right now helping people get their power back.

My thoughts go out to all those affected by Ike, especially the ones who still don't have power

lynca

09-20-2008, 04:51 PM

Here in Central Ohio we got almost no rain from the remnants of Ike, but we got 75+ mph winds on Sunday evening. Trees started falling left and right. And suddenly an estimated 2 million people were without power. We are down to about 72,000 homes without power as of 9:00 pm Friday.

Wow , your power company works fast ! Its been over a week since Ike hit Texas and we still have 1 million homes without power. The utility provider estimates by Friday (2 weeks after the hurricane) most of the power will be restored.